THOMAS PARNELL

THOMAS PARNELL (1679-1718), English minor poet of the Queen Anne period, born in Dublin, of a Cheshire family; studied at Trinity College, took orders, and became archdeacon of Clogher; is best known as the author of "The Hermit," though his odes "The Night-Piece on Death" and the "Hymn to Contentment" are of more poetic worth; he was the friend of Swift and Pope, and a member of the Scriblerus Club.